1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device, and more particularly relates to a light emitting device in which a light emitting element is mounted on a metal member, and parts of the light emitting element and the metal member are embedded in a package.
2. Background Information
There are light emitting devices that make use of a semiconductor and a translucent covering material that covers the semiconductor, and in recent years there has been a need for light emitting devices with less variance in their characteristics.
An example of this is shown in FIG. 4, which shows a proposed semiconductor device in which part of a lead frame 30 is coated with a silicon resin layer 32 so as to cover the surface of a semiconductor element 31 affixed to the lead frame 30, and the semiconductor element 31, including this silicon resin layer 32, and part of the lead frame 30 are covered with a sealing resin layer 33, wherein a groove 34 for preventing out-flow of the silicon resin is formed in a portion of the lead frame 30 corresponding to the peripheral edge of the silicon resin layer 32 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H8-293626, for example).
The effect of forming this groove for preventing resin out-flow is that the spreading flow of the silicon resin is dammed when the semiconductor element surface is coated with the silicon resin, and this prevents the silicon resin from flowing out over the lead frame. Thus, the semiconductor element is reliably covered with a silicon resin layer, the shape thereof is stabilized, and there is less variance in the characteristics of individual products.
With a light emitting device such as this, however, because the groove for preventing resin out-flow extends all the way to the end of the lead frame, when resin flows into the groove, the resin may flow out from the ends of the groove, and the shape thereof may not be sufficiently stabilized.